1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to processing a document and associated barcode, and, more particularly, to verification and other image processing features associated with the document and barcode.
2. Description of Related Information
Barcoding is a widely used mechanism for facilitating the accurate and secure storage and communication of information. For example, barcodes are often used in retail environments for representing product identification numbers and prices. Alternatively, barcodes have been used on such objects as personal ID cards, driver's licenses and passports as a way to store alpha-numeric data such as names and dates.
Existing barcode systems are used to associate barcodes with documents such as hardcopy paper documents and electronic documents to facilitate their storage and distribution. Systems for transmitting documents and communicating related information sometimes include components capable of providing documents, such as textual, schematic, diagrammatic, graphical and photographic documents, in a secure manner. However, existing systems do not provide sufficient security mechanisms for allowing comparison between barcode data and original image data. Furthermore, such systems generally do not provide the barcode capacity sufficient to store the amount of information necessary to create a complete reproduction of an original document image Moreover, excessive barcode footprints may obscure or altogether eliminate portions of a document that would otherwise be useable.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved transmission of sensitive documents wherein document image data can be safely stored in an encrypted barcode prior to transmission. Furthermore, there is a need for a system and method of associating barcodes with documents such that the barcodes may encode enough information for subsequent comparison to the original document and associated verification functionality. There is also a need for barcodes with sufficient capacity for a relatively small barcode to create a reproduction of the document.
In sum, there is a need for systems and methods for processing document image data to create a barcode including features that enable improved verification and/or reproduction of the original document, and increase the resolution of the barcode such that it features increased data capacity per unit of barcode area.